


makes a bee think of honey (just as I think of you)

by sunshinelatte



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, steve/bucky fest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2013-08-29
Packaged: 2017-12-25 00:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/946656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinelatte/pseuds/sunshinelatte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>fill for this prompt at the steve/bucky fest.<br/>http://stevebucky-fest.dreamwidth.org/307.html?thread=458803#cmt458803</p><p> </p><p>Bucky is an excellent nurse</p>
            </blockquote>





	makes a bee think of honey (just as I think of you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Haepherion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haepherion/gifts).



> title from Glenn Miller's Imagination
> 
> Unbeta-ed.  
> All mistakes are my own and the boys don't belong to me

Steve kicks the door to the apartment shut, and promptly collapses on the couch, leaving a trail of clothes and his shield in his wake. His head hurts, feels like someone’s tied a rubber band around it and stuffed his brain with cotton wool for good measure. And did he mention the chills and body aches? He hasn’t felt like that since he became Captain America. Thankfully the dreaded chest tightness that heralds the onset of an asthma attack isn’t there, at least.

 

Bucky hears screaming as he climbs the stairs to the apartment, and his blood turns to ice. _Steve._ He takes the stairs three at a time, bursts into the apartment and surveys the mess in the living room. He follows the trail of clothes to find Steve on the couch, hands flailing in the air and shouting for his shield.

“Steve, _Steve_ , wake up.” He puts a gentle hand on Steve’s shoulder and shakes him gently. Steve makes a grab for his hand with a vice-like grip, and thank fuck for Hydra tinkering and Red Room training, his reflexes are fast enough to extricate his hand before the bones are crushed to dust. 

Steve continues shouting and flailing, and _Jesus_ , he feels warm. Warmer than usual. Dread fills him and he gets a bowl of iced water and a wet towel from the kitchen. He kneels besides Steve, splashes the water on his face and moves out of reach quickly.

Steve comes to, spluttering. He sits up groggily, there seems to a fog across his vision, things are blurring together, is that a Hydra goon in his apartment, how does the goon know his name? He reaches out with a weak punch that the goon swats away easily.

“Stand down, soldier.” 

The voice is familiar, and as the shape shifts into focus in his blurry vision, he squints. “B-b-Bucky?” 

“Yeah, it’s me punk, who’d you expect?”

“…Hydra?” It’s taking efforts to squeeze the words out. Everything is slow. But Bucky’s face is familiar and comforting, from a lifetime ago. Some things don’t change.

Bucky wipes Steve’s face and the cool water is a welcomed change from the heat burning him up from inside. There’s a cold hand around his waist and he’s being pulled to his feet slowly. 

“Up you go Stevie, one step at a time.”

“mmmrrhhmphhh,” is what Steve can manage.

“Oh? Bedroom. Can’t have you lying on the couch in a mess.”

Gentle hands are putting him down on cool sheets and stripping him out of the sweaty uniform he hadn’t quite managed to peel off earlier. Then there’s more cold water on his face and sheets being tucked in around him before the lights go off. 

“Go to sleep, Steve.”

“Buck, stay.” Steve forces his scratchy throat to form words. He’s rewarded for his efforts when soon enough, another body slips into the bed and spoons him from behind. This time, sleep comes easy and Hydra doesn’t invade his dreams.

 

Steve wakes to the pale light of dawn, feeling better but the ache in his bones is still there. The burning heat has subsided, at least. He turns to find the other half of the bed empty. He thought Bucky came home last night, but maybe he was wrong in his stupor. Just what was in the explosion dust from yesterday?

He’s distracted from reliving yesterday’s battle with Hydra when the bedroom opens and Bucky appears with a breakfast tray.

“Mornin’ sunshine. Feel better today?” He winks at Steve.

Steve is confused. Is he still in his sick stupor? Did Hydra manage to grow cotton wool in place of his brain? Since when does Bucky cook? Or make him breakfast in bed? He shakes his head in a bid to clear the confusion.

 

Bucky snorts as he sets the tray down on the bed. “Heard from Fury you lot got poisoned by some gas explosion yesterday. Seems that everyone else is in the medical wing for monitoring but they thought you were well enough to be sent home, super soldier serum and all." He catches Steve’s worried expression and hastily adds, “They’re all stable and being watched over by doctors, don’t worry. You, on the other hand…” his voice trails off as he gestures at Steve.

 

“Doin’ your world class stupid act again, I get home to find you concussed on the couch, burning up with a fever, delirious, and trying to attack me when I woke you up? World class stupidity, punk.” Bucky glares at him with a fondly exasperated look on his face. 

Steve almost never feels small in this day and age, but this takes him back to the days before the serum, when he’d have to depend on Bucky to help him through his recurrent chest infections and persistent asthma attacks. He manages a wry grin, “Never knew when to quit, did I?”

“Never did.” Bucky ruffles his hair affectionately and presses a cup of orange juice into his hand. “Drink up.”

Steve spends the whole day in bed, trying to sleep off what feels like a bad bout of flu, Bucky bringing him various drinks that he insists are good for him and watching him till he’s drained the cup. It seems to work though, and by evening, his throat has stopped hurting enough that the chicken noodle soup Bucky’s made goes down without feeling like there a hundred knives stabbing at his throat. And it’s surprisingly tasty too. He slurps down every last bit and looks up to Bucky’s pleased face. 

“Looks like you’re getting better.” Bucky leans forward to press a kiss to his forehead. “Fever’s broken too.” He stands and puts on music, soon, the opening strains of Glenn Miller’s Imagination fill the room. 

_“Imagination is funny, it makes a cloudy day sunny  
Makes a bee think of honey just as I think of you”_

Bucky waltzes around the room, arms around an imaginary dance partner as he croons along with the music and makes a kissy face at Steve, who snorts. 

Bucky pushes the bowl out of Steve’s hands and falls into his lap, sprawling over the bed. He looks up at Steve. “You scared me good, Rogers. Haven’t felt that sort of fear in a long time.”

Steve can’t quite hide the guilty expression on his face, he’s never managed to repay Bucky for taking care of him back when they were two scrawny kids in Brooklyn with barely two nickels to rub together. And here Bucky is, still taking care of him like he did back then. A lifetime away, yet things still feel the same.

“Thought I was gonna lose you again. Felt like we were back being two dumb kids who didn’t know when to quit,” Bucky continues softly. The expression in his eyes is misty, and Steve feels like he owes Bucky more than he can ever hope to repay. 

 

Steve has never been one to hide his expressions well, and next thing he knows, Bucky’s saying, “Christ, not gonna be a dumb sap as well, are you, Rogers? Shut up and kiss me instead.”

There’s a metal hand behind his head, guiding him downwards to meet Bucky’s lips, it’s like coming home, it’s familiar, it’s warm and Steve lets himself get lost in the moment. He may not be completely recovered, but hey, the super soldier serum must be good for something, right?

 

Bucky pulls back and rolls off the bed. “Shower time.” The lewd wink he throws Steve leaves little to the imagination and Steve feels himself blushing. He lets Bucky help him out of bed and into the shower. Bucky sits him down on a plastic stool and undresses him, before turning on the shower head and soaping him up. It’s probably the gentlest shower with Bucky that Steve has ever had. He closes his eyes as Bucky lathers shampoo in his hair and massages his scalp. It feels like he’s massaging the fever and weariness out of Steve at the same time.

Bucky reaches down to wash Steve’s dick, and Steve inhales sharply. He’s not quite sure if he’s up to it yet, but the feel of Bucky’s hand on his dick is always good in any situation. Bucky snorts softly in his ear behind him. “Don’t be gettin’ excited, Steve. We’ll save that for another time when you’re well enough to fuck me through the mattress.”

Steve leans his head against Bucky’s shoulder and rolls his eyes. “Haven’t we already done that before?”

He feels Bucky’s answering grin against his cheek. “What can I say, I like breaking bedframes.” He finds himself being wrapped up in a fluffy towel and pushed back into bed. 

Bucky climbs into bed behind him, wraps an arm around his belly and pulls him close. They drift off to sleep, Glenn Miller still playing in the background.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you like this, OP! i'm sorry if I didn't do a good enough job
> 
> comments are adored


End file.
